1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to liquid ejection control methods and liquid ejection apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Color inkjet printers are already well known as representative liquid ejection apparatuses. These color inkjet printers are provided with a print head, which is an example of an inkjet-type ejection head, for ejecting ink, which is an example of a liquid, from nozzles, and are configured so as to record images and characters, for example, by ejecting ink onto print paper, which is an example of a medium.
The print head is supported on a carriage in a state with the nozzle face in which the nozzles are formed in opposition to the print paper, and moves (performs main scanning) in the width direction of the print paper along a guide member, ejecting ink in synchronization with this main scan.
Moreover, color inkjet printers that allow so-called borderless printing, in which the entire surface of the print paper is targeted for printing, have become popular in recent years because, among other things, they allow an output result of an image that is comparable to a photograph to be obtained. Borderless printing for example allows printing to be carried out by ejecting ink without leaving borders at the four edges of the print paper.
However, when the operation for feeding the print paper and the operation for ejecting ink are carried out repeatedly in order to print the print paper, sooner or later, such as immediately before printing is over, a state in which some of the nozzles of the nozzle face are no longer in opposition to the print paper will occur. In this state, when ink is ejected from nozzles that are not in opposition to the print paper, ink is needlessly wasted.
The condition of ink being ejected from nozzles that are not in opposition to the print paper in the above state is particularly likely to occur in the case of borderless printing, because printing is carried out with respect to the entire surface of the print paper, and this increases the need to solve the above problem.